Asdepias. pentandria digynia. 29 



3. C. aguminata. Willd. 1. 1276. R Corom, pi 1, N. 8. 

 Root tuberous, perennial. Stems herbaceous, twining. 

 Leaves ensiforra, succulent.^ 

 Teling. Commoo-madu. 



ASCLEPIAS. 



Contorted. Calyx five- toothed. Corol rotate, or sal- 

 ver-shaped. Nectary subcylindric, embracing the organs 

 of the fructification. Anthers five pairs, attached to the 

 five angles of the common stigma. Follicles two. Seeds 

 coraose. 



The East Indian plants of this extensive family, be- 

 longing to the natural order Apocinea of Jussieu, are, 

 with the exception of two or three species, uniformly 

 twining perenials. The Leaves always opposite ; inflo- 

 rescence sub-axillary or rather laterifolius umbells. The 

 Calyx and Corol five-parted. The nectary a subcylindric 

 pentagon, more or less deeply divided into five, lanceo- 

 late, lamellated segments. The organs of the fructifica- 

 tion consist of five pair, of one-celled anthers and as I 

 cannot subscribe to Brown's opinion, I must say at all 

 periods attached to the circumference, or when angular, to 

 the five angles of the common stigma, and furnished with 

 2i fecundating fluid, instead of pollen. The germs two, 

 or very perfectly two-lobed, superior, each crowned with 

 its proper style, but the two are often pretty firmly unit- 

 ed, and end in a single large, roundish, or pentagonal, 

 spongy body, which I call the common stigma, ( Jacquin's 

 tuherculum staminiferum, and Cavanille's radix stamine- 

 um) and gives the germs nearly as great a claim to t he 

 first order of this class, as the other parts of the pistil- 

 lum do to the second. This body is in some parts 

 firmly attached to the interior lamella of the five seg- 

 ments of the nectary, and that organ being united to the 

 Corol, the whole falls ofi" in one body. Several of our In- 



